The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

Got $30 million to start? This could be yours (courtesy Populous)

With the Holiday season upon us, there always seems to be one person on your list that “has everything.” As a sports fan, they may have been to the Super Bowl or World Series, and with it, you’re left struggling on what to get.

If you’re a billionaire, and there’s enough property owned, how about your own personal stadium?

The architects at Kansas City based Populous (formerly HOK Sports) can build you something that rivals anything yet built on the planet, if you have the money. Starting price is $30 million for the facility (yes, you supply the land and infrastructure to support it), but what you get is phenomenal.

In an interview with Robb Report, Ryan Sickman, an engineer and associate principal at Populous, said that the field can go from NFL, to baseball, to soccer by using fiber-optic lighting embedded in the FieldTurf. Surrounding the playing surface would be wraparound video boards that would allow you to change from one pro sports facility to another. Not fully to scale, Sickman sees a 40- to 50-yard playing field surrounded by LED screens that stand from 12 to 20 feet tall so that “you feel enclosed in the environment,” he says.

In terms of actual seating capacity, imagine an oversized luxury suite, or enough to hold approx. 100 people. Scoreboards, and a PA system would complete the experience.

Or, how about turning it into the ultimate fan cave? While you’re simulating plays on the field, imagine wrapping the interior with feeds from college football games? “He could be surrounded by every big game going on in the country while playing touch football with his buddies,” says Sickman. “That’s pretty cool.”

And remember, the starting price is $30 million. If Populous can design ballparks and stadiums for the likes of the Yankees, Orioles and London’s Olympic Stadium, what’s to keep from adding locker rooms , medical staff, and training facilities?

As professional sports clubs continue to look for public dollars to build sports facilities, wouldn’t it make you feel warm inside knowing you paid for this all yourself? Or better yet, gave it as a gift?

As to whether anyone has actually commissioned Populous to build one, the report doesn’t say.

“Is it doable?” Sickman asks rhetorically. “Yes. It just hasn’t been done before.”